Isaac Mizrahi's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Editor's note: Isaac Mizrahi shared his recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream exclusively with Epicurious. To read more about Mizrahi and take a peek inside his kitchen, click here.

This classic ice cream is made more interesting by using a combination of bittersweet and semisweet chocolate chunks. Be sure to dry the mint leaves well; any water left clinging to the leaves will affect the texture of the finished dish.

Preparation

In heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat, stir together milk, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and mint. Heat until steaming but not boiling, then remove from heat.

Ladle about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent eggs from cooking, then slowly stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Place over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path), 5 to 6 minutes total (do not let boil or custard will curdle). Strain through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Whisk in heavy cream and food coloring. Cover and chill until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.

Process custard in ice cream maker, adding chopped chocolate during last minute of churning. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.

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Reviews

i really like just how this recipe looks i eaten it before with my loved ones most of us enjoyed this we may have a family group gathering again and cook this recipe again soon that is one tasty recipe you have to check it out i guarantee you all you could will require to this its very tasty

Isaac Mizrahi, who knew you were a cook too?! Holy moley, this ice cream is among the best I have ever made. One thing though: I did heed some of the commenters' suggestions and allowed the mint to steep in the cream mixture overnight, which made the world of difference in my opinion.

Delicious! I've made this over and over again, and it's wonderful. The spearmint used doesn't have the snappy zing that store-bought mint chocolate chip does, but it has a complex, herbaceous flavor. It is NOT the traditional bright flavor you might associate with a mint chocolate chip from childhood...for that, you might want to add the peppermint extract. But for a sophisticated, intensely herb-y flavor, spearmint is the way to go! The texture of the custard is so perfect that I use this ratio of cream to milk for all of my ice creams!

I made this for a 4th of July cookout with friends. I was really excited to make mint chocolate chip ice cream, but the fresh mint made the ice cream taste more like mojito-chocolate chip ice cream... i was disappointed that after all the time spent making the ice cream, chilling it, and freezing it left me with an undesired flavor :(. I wish I had read the review from the person saying he/she added peppermint extract.

Disgusting, actually. Tasted like chewing gum with chocolate chips. Plus, all the eggs made the texture even "gummy". Most mint you can purchase in a grocery store/supermarket is spearmint. Do not make this.

I made this ice cream for Christmas. It was easy and delicious. The mint alone does leave the base tasting like a frozen mojito and not like the mint ice cream we all know and love, so I added three tsps of peppermint extract to the base after churned and it enhanced the flavor so it was more like the customary mint. Even the kids loved it!

Its a great recipe for a very rich flavor. I left the mint in over night (chilling process) instead of removing them directly after heating them. I strained them out just before putting the custard into the ice cream machine. It made a spectacular mint flavor that you just cannot get from the store bought kind. I also offered some chopped pistachio nuts as a side, as well as cherry chipotle chocolate sauce. Have fun with it!

My batch was more good than delicious, but
since I mixed it up, I thought a delicious
rating was more fair. I loved the mint
flavour, and found that straining the
leaves out after cooking time was fine
(not necessary to continue steeping while
in the fridge). I used up milk chocolate
chips that I had on hand, and felt this
was a big mistake - dark chocolate would
have been much better. Also, I used soy,
which I usually do for the milk part of my
ice creams, but feel that in this recipe,
I would use the 2% milk, and maybe even
increase the percentage of cream to milk.

Tried making a dairy free version using almond milk and soy creamer. I chopped the mint which helped infuse the flavor. Also, it took much longer for the custard to cook so that helped the mint infuse into the mixture. Per reviews of other mint ice cream recipes on this site, I melted the chocolate and drizzled it into the finished frozen ice cream in the machine while it was still turning. I can't say it was an absolute success as the warm chocolate melted the ice cream a bit but it got gobbled up just the same. If anyone has any tips on adding the chocolate this way, I would love to hear how they (successfully) accomplish this.

This ice cream was better than I expected. The mint flavor really came through- I'm not sure I even used 2 cups of mint either. I did end up adding just a few drops of peppermint extract, but only because I had it on hand. I really like the mixture of dark and milk chocolate. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't leave it in my machine long enough, but after being in the freezer overnight, the ice cream isn't as creamy as I would hope.

My four year-old daughter and I just made this ice cream and it is so good! I love the fresh mint taste and the consistency is really nice too. This was fairly easy to make and I will definitely be making it again.

Excelent texture and flavor to the ice cream. I enjoyed the recipe so much that I made a Chocolate Orange chip variation, which also worked nicely. Left out the mint leaves, added a few drops of orange essence, then used a Terry's Chocolate Orange (chopped) to mix in instead of the specified chocolate. You can often buy Tery's chocolate oranges at Trader Joes.

Excellent recipe. I read some
comments saying that using spearmint
comes out weird but mine was a big
hit with customers who like mint
chocolate chip, and I used
spearmint. I sold it at a festival
along with about 12 other flavors
and this was the first to sell out.
After the fesitval I received an
order for more from someone who
hadn't eaten any but had heard about
it. It was the most popular by far.
However I did make some changes - I
used a Hershey's Special Dark
Chocolate candy bar and a regular
Hershey's Milk Chocolate candy bar
for the 2 types of chocolate called
for. I did this because that's what
I had on hand. Dark chocolate is the
best kind of chocolate to use for
chocolate chips!
Also I let the sieve full of mint
leaves sit submerged in the custard
after I strained it (the whole time
it was cooling), to make it mintier.
I think next time I will wait to
strain it until it's completely
cooled, leaving the mint leaves in
the custard while it's cooling.
Don't hesitate to make this ice
cream! It was awesome.

This is delicious. The little mint plant I put in my
garden 2 years ago is now as big as a small auto!
This was a perfect way to use a bunch of it. As it
turns out, the mint in my garden was the
spearmint variety which made this ice cream extra
special and extremely fragrant. I used 2 cups of
tightly packed mint leaves and it gave it a really
minty flavor.

Served this last night to friends, who loved it. Have to admit I wasn't paying enough attention to the recipe and cooked the milk and cream together, which meant the mint spent a fair amount of time cooking. All in all, it made the taste pretty strong, but also colored the milk enough that I didn't need food coloring -- there was a slight green tinge to the base. (Not that I was going to use food coloring.) It was very refreshing and creamy.

Except for the fact that I omitted the food
coloring, I followed the recipe exactly and the
results were fan.tas.tic. I didn't think it was too
rich, and I used eggs from my chickens, so the
yolks are really flavorful.

This is my favorite flavor of ice cream and unfortunately they don't seem to have it anywhere here in Switzerland. Such a tragedy! We tried this recipe to satisfy my cravings and oh my god it is fantastic! Adjustments: lowered egg yolks to 4 and skipped the food coloring. We also made it without using an ice cream maker and stirred it periodically while it froze to break up ice crystals as they formed and tossing the chocolate in as it thickened up. I can only imagine it would be even better using the proper equipment. Milanoduo is right, this IS good enough to cure cancer and bring on world peace. Yum!

I make this at least
once a month, to the
detriment of other
ice cream flavors,
but so be it.
Isaac's MCC rules
the school.
Guaranteed to cure
cancer, make yr
teeth whiter, blow
away those blues,
and bring
everlasting peace to
this little ol'
planet called Earth.
I generally make it
with one less yolk
and with part-skim
milk, which makes it
just a touch
lighter. Stop
reading already and
get to it--it's that
good!

The highlight of the
dinner party! Ialtered slightly -
1.5 cups heavy cream
+ 1.5 cups 2% milk, 4 egg yolks, a little more than 1/2 cup of sugar and a whole storebought
bunch of mint. "So
fresh", "I'll never
be able to eat mint
chocolate chip ice
cream from the
grocery store again"
were the reviews.
Wish I had doubled
the recipe!